Abstract

Myocardial damage after nonpenetrating chest trauma has been reported to occur after 16 to 76% of traumatic injuries (1). The number of cardiac injuries due to automobile accidents alone has been estimated at 150,000 annually (2). Such traumatic damage to the heart has generally been manifested by nonspecific ST-T-wave changes and has usually constituted a minor aspect of the clinical situation. Frank myocardial infarction is uncommon and has usually been considered to reflect underlying coronary disease. Parmley, Manion, and Mattingly (2) in a review of 546 cases of nonpenetrating myocardial trauma found 105 cases of contusion with or without laceration